Greenville Men’s Soccer in Conference

Greenville University men’s soccer has had an upsetting last few games, taking two losses to MacMurray College and Principia College. 

The Greenville men’s soccer team traveled to Jacksonville, IL to compete in a match against the MacMurray College Highlanders. The Greenville men’s soccer team has been consistent in scoring overtime goals and finishing their opportunities this conference season. However, Greenville did not have that kind of luck this past weekend. Four minutes into the game, MacMurray scored a goal picked off of a corner kick throwing MacMurray ahead of the Panthers 1-0. In response to that goal, the men were not quick to give up. A minute later, junior Napoleon Nurquidi scored his third goal of the conference season which tied the game up 1-1. The game was evenly matched in shot percentage, fouls, and possession. The teams were not giving each other any space to breathe. The first half ended with a score of 1-1. As the second half began, MacMurray came out stronger than what the Panthers expected. MacMurray made four different substitutions, which consequently led to a MacMurray sub scoring a goal at fifty-one minutes making the score 2-1. The Panthers quickly realized that they needed to execute a new game plan. After thirty-nine long, strenuous minutes of two teams clashing and fighting it out, the match finally came to an end. The Greenville University men’s soccer team fell to MacMurray College and ended up with a final score of 2-1.

The men’s soccer team also traveled to Principia College in Elsah, IL on Tuesday, October 15th. Last conference season, Greenville defeated Principia in an intense double overtime 2-1. However, Principia came out wanting to redeem themselves. Principia dominated the game outshooting our men 23-8, whereas last year Greenville outshot Principia 26-18. GU intensely fought to gain control of the ball and create opportunities to score. Principia was playing solid defense all around the field and arguably showed that the desire to win was important considering the foul ratio was 21-15 including one yellow given.

Six minutes into the second half, Principia obtained a corner kick and secured their first goal of the game at fifty-one minutes. Throughout the second half, Greenville stepped up their game and acquired five shots on goal while senior goalkeeper, Nick Holland, was pounded with thirteen more shots. Only eight out of twenty-three shots were on frame from Principia and Holland had saved six of those. In the eightieth minute, Principia drove through Greenville’s defense and scored another goal to make the score 2-0. Greenville dug deep for the last ten minutes of the game to see what they could do. This was troubling to Greenville because they had just came off a tough loss from MacMurray College.

Greenville University men’s head soccer coach Chris Swift said, “Obviously, coming off the back of two losses, we don’t feel great but we’re not going to hit the panic button. We’re going to go back to work and figure things out and take it one game at a time. That’s what we told the guys that we have to do. We don’t worry about too much else, just have to worry about Eureka coming up, take care of business there and then we will go from there.”

The Greenville University men’s soccer team currently holds a record of 2-2 in conference which ranks them fifth in the SLIAC under Spalding University, Principia College, Iowa Wesleyan, and MacMurray College.

Media by Ellie Cummins.